For The Kids
by Kale Bishop
Summary: Phineas Flynn, professional inventor & father, barely had the time to spend with his kids thanks to his job. With doubt, the kids assume that he's too busy, and slowly disconnect with him. Then he wondered, how can the kids be closer to their parents more? Simple, you become kids yourselves... or turn yourselves into kids again.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

Marie Flynn belongs to : Sam-Ely-Ember

Tony Flynn, PJ Flynn, and Jasmine Flynn belong to: KicsterAsh and Kiki-Kit

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 **Note:** This is not a sequel to any of my previous stories. It has its own timeline and dimension.

Just in case you guys get confused with the title I named for this story.

I'll talk about my insights later. For now, please enjoy. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my latest fanart in the longest time:

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 **For the Kids**

 **Chapter 1**

Ice cream, such a sweet and decadent treat; perfect for beating the summer heat. Oh how I missed licking my favorite vanilla flavor, that I just had to buy one on the way to the lab. I guess you can call it my guilty pleasure now, I mean, if I ate anymore of this treat I'd grow a belly and become a typical fat CEO, not that I am actually, but I'll get there... but count out the fat part, I can always workout while working... Haha! Get it?

Actually, I am a CEO, or head of the company rather, but I'm just not feeling it, I don't want to be the one who bosses people around, barks orders at them, and heck even fires them (though there were some circumstances wherein I had to, just to keep the company safe and going). So CEO is not a term that I would prefer myself to be named. What I know is that me and my bro are owners of our own company: PnF laboratories.

Okay, call me narcissistic, but not only do we analyze your physics data with 99.99% accuracy, but we also make our own inventions that aim to bring a better comfort to your lifestyle. Take this robotic vacuum cleaner for example, which analyzes the entirety of your home's cleanliness and maintains it to the most optimum level, moms won't even have to burden themselves of cleaning, they'll have more time doing their own work, or they can just simply watch some cliche soap operas that even makes my honey cry... I still don't understand why the vampire x human thing is dramatic for her. We also rebuilt some of our past inventions when we were kids, heck I think we almost used our entire blueprint book. You remember those two portals that we accidentally discovered can switch the minds of two beings? Biologists are using them now for in-depth research on animal psychology by actually switching their minds into a selected specimen. And remember those flying kiddie rides? They were a hit! Kids went home crying whenever play time was over; some wealthy parents even decided to buy 'em for their birthdays! The only thing left out was the roller coaster, which sadly looked too dangerous to the market that the idea had to be scrapped (I remember the feeling of our first baby being rejected like it was yesterday... it was heartbreaking, but there's no use in living in the past).

It's quite a rough journey I tell ya, it's not like how it used to be back in the summer days. As soon as I graduated from a stressful... and yet sweet college, I got my butt working as an apprentice under Stark industries, but at the same time I had to take my masters in Physics degree. There were so many times I wanted to quit, especially with that 500 page Strama that our professor gave us as an exit ticket. Trust me it was a horrible experience, it took inventing onto a whole new level, that it wasn't playtime anymore, it was hardcore work. But I have to say, if it weren't for the moral support of my family, friends, Ferb... Isabella (a.k.a. honey), I wouldn't even be here working on my next invention, and I wouldn't be working for my four kids and wife.

That's right! Phineas Flynn is officially a Father now! I couldn't be happier in my life to have them in it! Two Doritos like me and two semi circle cute girls just like honey (I wonder if the cutonium was passed unto either the two, or it was divided). I mean just look at them, right here in my personal desk!... Well actually this is my personal lab computer where I do all my status reports, data gathering and analyses (although secretly I installed an emulator and downloaded some Pokemon games, gee I thought I was busted when Ferb found out... until he revealed he had Legend of Zelda in his own computer), my office is down the hallway. But people wouldn't have recongized it was mine without Isabella's framed picture in it, gee just look at her, how beautiful a person she has metamorphed into! She practically looks like Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro now with her lipstick, but she kept the bow, and her pink shirt... and her puppy dog eyes she uses as a weapon against people. (You gotta appreciate those smooth curves around her waist, makes her look hot, especially her... Shhh! That's a secret only we keep).

Anyway, coincidentally Ferb applied for the same company to work, and we were practically the center of attention thanks to Mr. Stark's broadcast to the entire company, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like you to welcome my star apprentices...", somewhere along that atmosphere. He mentions something about our inventions especially the beak suit... It was cringeworthy. Our first few inventions together were rejected like that roller coaster, but ever since that vacuum cleaner, which Mr. Stark bought himself too, we've been climbing towards the summit to our success!

We made so much money that we decided to start our own lab, like we have always wanted. That's right, Ferb and I make our own rules! Our motto: Live your world of endless possibilities! Yeah, I'm trying to make it sound like a Disneyland for scientists; you have to attract the market to something that's appealing, most especially if your past mentor is now your competition. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Stark was a brilliant mentor, creative (not to mention narcississtic and slightly arrogant), and he was always there when we needed his morale support.

So, in case you were wondering, I'm currently typing my progress in a journal with this next baby my colleagues and I were planning for quite a while now. A couple of them are working behind me by one of the workbenches. Status update? We have accomplished on designing the blueprint, and discussing with my colleagues, using the basic scientific method, the purposes and functions of the invention, as well as the requirements to initiate construction procedures and the objectives to be accomplished each day in the span of... X months; approximately this would take a month to accomplish, unlike in the past where we only took the entire morning and a manpower of at least two to accomplish it, but it could vary depending on the adjustments required on some bugs and if our objectives are not met, hopefully our progress is on the right track so that we wouldn't have to start from scratch again (Sadly, the spirit of science is secondary to efficiency, because time is money, and I need to feed the kids... and honey too). So planning phase has passed, and now construction is commencing today, which marks this as Day 1.

"Hey! How's the welding going?" I called to whoever could answer.

Ahh, the beautiful sounds of metal being hammered and welded bring music to my ears.

"Pretty good!" Yelled the colleague with the hammer. "It's going to take by the end of today to finish this!"

"That long? Want me to help you?"

"No! Besides, don't you have to present yourself to TnT? We need their partnership big time if we are ever going to ship a bunch of these to the public!"

"Oh! Don't worry my loyal colleagues! Ferb's right on it!"

Immediately, a giant spark flashed right behind me along with the sharp sound of metal being sliced. Reactively I turned around to check. As I feared, my colleague accidentally cut our foundation in half... there goes our progress.

"Wait... What?!"

"Okay, could put that down? You're gonna get yourselves into an accident."

Welder, The guy with an MIG and a welding helmet, stopped working along with Hammer, the guy with the hammer, it's a funny coincidence how their names represented their current job in this phase of the project.

"Dude." Said Welder. "With all due respect, aren't you more fit for that job? I mean, you have a better experience than him."

I like it when people treat me like a friend but with a sense of respect. That's how I like to run my company anyway.

"Hey, don't underestimate Ferb, he's good when it comes to negotiations... and debates. You just don't see him when he's in action."

"Yes. I recall you telling us tales about your brother winning debates, but all I'm saying is it would have been the safer call, for our business to thrive!"

"Okay, you have a point, but you need to relax. I trust him, he can handle this. By the time he calls on my phone he-!"

Buzz! Buzz! A wild vibration has appeared in my pocket! Perfect timing my bro! I checked the caller ID of my phone to make sure, and indeed it was him! Boy, if I could just translate this text to an image of my anticipating colleagues!

"Hey bro! Spread the good news!"

"What?! You rejected our offer?!" I exclaimed, in front of the two CEOs of TnT: Thaddeus and Thor.

Yes, TnT stands for Thaddeus n Thor, and they are a company that focuses more on construction than scientific procedures, but they still haven't given up inventing. But since the start I wanted to become partners because they will be able to speed up our construction process, and we wouldn't have to spend all month just for this project. Did we do something wrong? Was our offer not enough? I stood there beside my brother Ferb at the end of the glass table, looking at the two owners at the other end, for some reason they want us to be this far from them.

"Phineas." Thaddeus spoke with a smirk on his face. "You haven't actually forgotten me have you?"

"Of course not! You're Thaddeus, one of the brilliant inventors I have ever known ever since I was a kid! You built a brilliant fort, that came a chewing gum dispenser!"

"You mean... the fort you outdid." He said with his smirk, suddenly disappearing into a fierce glare, much like how Thor was staring at us.

"Wh-what?! Dude, that was 20 years ago man!"

"Don't "dude" me. We are NOT friends."

"We don't have to be, we're inventors aren't we?! Aren't we doing what we do for the good of mankind?"

Thaddeus just gave up and gave me the "stop talking" hand. This is outrageous!

"Why are you taking this too personally?" I can sense the innocence in my voice.

I wasn't even trying to sound professional in front of them (seeing as their decision wasn't at that level either), I just wanted him to see that we don't need to be like this, we're mature adults now! There are more pressing matters at hand!

"I just... can't." Said Thaddeus.

"Whadd'ya mean?!" I stressed. I haven't gotten so worked up like this before, I guess the pressure is really kicking in.

"Working with you, the man who defeated me that day... would a betrayal to myself."

We stood there, silently.

"B-but-!" Ferb interrupted me by placing his hand on my right shoulder. It's time to bail.

"Thank you for your time gentlemen. It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Ferb said politely.

"The feeling..." Spoke Thor "is not mutual."

"Now get out, before I call security." Thaddeus threatened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

Okay, this chapter took longer than I expected. It's double the standard word count that I usually have which is 2000 words, so expect a pretty long chapter. On the other hand, I enjoyed writing it immensely, establishing some foundations and important memories about the characters (despite them being entirely borrowed, but it's the nature of fanfic to borrow characters). I'm gonna edit this another time, I'm too excited and I'm a bit tired of writing a 4000 word chapter haha (2 straight hours of 2000 words huhu).

 **Disclaimer:** Anthony, PJ, and Jasmine Flynn belong to KicsterAsh and Kiki-Kit

Marie Flynn belongs to Sam-Ely-Ember

and the rest of the PnF characters belong to Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh.

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Chapter 2

Unbelievable that guy! I mean, why does he have a grudge on me even until now?! And what is up with this attitude of trying to outdo other people?! He's arrogant, very very arrogant! Man! Okay, calm down, there has to be another way! Wait, how many times have I paced back and forth in the lab? Well, it helps me think, I mean, it's just my way of processing solutions in this situation, but in this case I got stuck on what happened earlier. This isn't like me at all, I even asked myself, whatever happened to moving forward? But that guy, I just... why?!

"Phineas?" Inquired Hammer.

The four of us, who are currently present, are all worried that we have a lot of weight on our backs. I appreciate that Hammer and the rest are concerned, but how am I going to break it to the rest of the team? Furthermore, the rest of the company! They're gonna want their own projects sped up so that they wouldn't have to work so excruciatingly hard, as much as we are happy to work on our own company, we're also getting exhausted. We've been so overworked lately, and hardly any of us had time to get back to the stuff we wanted to do! People are already talking about leaving.

I sighed, several paces later, and decided to sit down. This isn't the first time I felt at world's end, but this isn't the worst.

"Why don't we just look for another company?" Asked Welder.

"It might take a bit more time. It's quite a gamble." Explained Ferb.

"Ferb's right, unfortunately. Our company is already close to having a shortage of manpower, if we don't pay our folks fast. TnT was like the closest shot we had, or at least I thought it was... until that happened. If we apply to other companies, they might not be willing or available... unless... Hey! Why don't we try Stark Industries?"

"Isn't that a defense systems company?" asked Hammer.

"But we're Stark's old apprentices! We should at least give it a try."

Ferb, like the man of action he is, immediately calls Tony Stark himself. I'm pretty excited myself!

"I don't know Phineas." Doubted Welder. "Stark Industries is a pretty top-notched company. Do you think that in our current capacity we could really work with them?"

I chuckled kinda hard, I wasn't trying to be arrogant or anything. "What're you talking about?! We don't have to wait for tomorrow to be that kind of company, we can be like that now!"

The two co-workers looked at each other quite anxious and nervous. I know that look anywhere: self-doubt. They both kept their heads down afterwards as if they were undergoing self pity.

"Hey! Keep your heads up, when I'm talking to you guys! Come on, help me out here!"

Well, they were listening, but there was still that look of pity on their faces.

"I don't believe that you guys just came here just because you got lucky or you just came here to just get your daily dough so that you can be glorified as the family breadwinner. No! I believe that you guys made it passed our application process for a reason!"

Hammer sighed. "Phineas-! Sir, with all do respect-!"

"And, I am not finished, it is also the reason why other applicants were unfortunate enough to get rejected, and instead you guys are taking their places."

Hammer was about to continue despite being interrupted... but he gave it a thought, which is cool, I always liked the part where realism was wrong, and optimism was the key to victory.

"You guys are scientists and engineers! Stark Industries are a company of scientists and engineers! We, Ferb and I, are apprentices of thee Tony Stark! So practically we have as much aptitude as he is, to some degree at least, we can't be perfect. But even so, we have abilities that even he doesn't have, same concept applies with you people!"

Their eyes are glued on me now. I got em where I want em!

"Yes, we might be prodigies during our golden days, but even we are not perfect! I can be too ambitious sometimes that I may have lead the company to some pretty close to disasters, if not for the support of my colleagues and my fellow CEO here! And Ferb, he can be a little too quiet that he can't speak his mind if the situation becomes dire. So okay, we're not perfect! But that's why we have you guys, that's why we called for your help, and thank heavens you answered it that day! I mean look around you, see what we have accomplished!"

I forgot to tell you, this lab, this team, is where our success rate started to scale up, and where practically our cash came. It's practically a classroom and a museum at the same time with all the prototypes of our inventions lying around! The vacuum cleaner looks glorious beside the door, awaiting for it's next cleaning session. And several blueprints of our other successful inventions hang on the walls as relics. Also, well they might not have been successful, but far ahead at the end of the lab is a bench where all our other ideas and blueprints are either still on the works or scrapped, but they are still marks of our progress together.

"True, we are still practically new to this business, we have only been together for five years. But can you believe it?! Five years is a pretty short time to get all our masterpieces and babies out there serving mankind! Think about it, it's amazing... no it's more than amazing! It's... Super duper amazing, for a lack of a better term."

The two chuckled.

"So you see, I'm not being cocky or arrogant, I'm proving to you that you guys can do this, with us, with all the other teams in this company, working together! We can go bigger, and our partnership will work, I'm positive!"

They smiled, and looked at each other, with a large amount of confidence that I was looking for in my colleagues each day.

"Sir, how much optimism did your mother hammer into you when you still in that womb of hers?"

"And how much did she weld into making you a great leader?"

I laughed, quite flattered by the compliments of my fellows. "Hey, save those hammering and welding jokes when you get back to work. We still haven't finished that foundation."

"Yes sir!" They both said with esteem.

Well, I guess you can say that I did a job well done. A company never succeeds without its employees working together happily.

All of a sudden some buzzing sound followed by a song was heard.

"Watcha doin, Watcha doin... I really wanna know!"

"Whoops! Sorry that's mine!"

I picked my cellphone in my pocket and immediately answered the call. Thank you technology for customized ringtones for specific contacts.

"Hey! Watcha doin?" I asked.

"Hi... I'm watching Tony's game."

"Oh... wait what?!"

I could hear Isabella facepalm over the other side of the line.

"Honey, you promised!"

Gosh! I even facepalmed myself for forgetting. I double checked my personal tablet just to be sure I made some reminders. I really promised in the past that I would be there in Tony's soccer game, I even set up some reminders in my tablet and some alarms, it even popped up as one of my notifications in the lock screen.

"I'm on my way, I'm on my way."

I rushed off to my car without saying goodbye to my colleagues, they overheard me talking so hopefully they would understand. Isabella was luckily available for his game today, despite her busy work as a journalist. She's practically a celebrity ever since she had her own show in the news channel. It's practically a show where she interviews some of the people who have been rising to the top recently.

"Good morning people! Watcha doin'?" She would usually say in her morning show... I hope you don't mind but I'm gonna set this into flashback mode while I travel to my car.

"I'm here at the recently established company called PnF laboratories! I'm here today with Phineas Flynn, CEO and founder of the company, and we're going to ask him a few questions and hopefully we get a tour!"

"Oh, well, I'd be honored to be your escort in today's tour miss!"

She planned to be discrete about our relationship status in public because she wanted to earn her reputation without my help. My career spiked earlier than her's, like 3 years earlier, and it was her 2nd year as a journalist, but one of the first few days as a

Isabella chuckled. "Thank you so much honey! Ahh! I mean, Mr. Flynn! Jeez..."

Well... there goes our discreteness. "Honey" is frantically panicking in front of the camera, waving over the guy behind it to stop recording the footage. Unfortunately for her, some guy that was spectating over the news studio behind the news desk was broadcasting himself by the TV a short distance apart from us.

"Wait wait, Isabella, did you just say... honey?" He chuckled.

"No! No no no no no!" Isabella giggled. "I did not-!"

Well, I immediately took action. I kissed her in front of the camera, sending that guy by the camera smiling and the guy over the TV stunned like he just won a million dollars (for some reason we have that power over people whenever we are a tandem). Of course we completed the interview section of her show, the one where she asks "Watc'ha doin?", and then I finally gave her the tour. It was a complete win-win for both of us since it earned her fame and I got my company noticed, about a dozen more customers came and slowly and steadily it grew. Well, it landed me in the quality of life that I'm living right now, a decent house and well fed kids that had everything they ever wanted for Xmas practically (provided that it was something material).

Okay, made it! Okay, push the button to start the engine, then drive! Thank goodness for technological progress, I never would've survived if I lost my car keys at this moment, not that I needed them anyway thanks to push to start cars.

"I'm on the way! How's the game going?"

"Well, it's about to start." She informed. "They're already lined up face to face against each other, he's gonna see an empty bench right beside me any time now."

Ugh, perfect timing! I guess I'm gonna have to use that one.

"Okay, put me on hologram mode right beside you."

"Okay, just make it as fast as possible okay? You don't wanna get caught."

"I wo-aaaahh!"

Holy smokes! I can't believe I just beat a red light! I almost got hit by a car; the guy driving it was honking as he zipped in front of me, barely escaping. Fortunately none of us got hit... But now the cops are on my tail with their blairing siren. Great, just great.

"What's wrong honey?"

I groaned. "I'm... gonna take a few more minutes on the road. D-don't ask. It just isn't my lucky day now."

"...well, hologram mode is ready. Take off your coat."

I took off my coat, ready to take position to pretend I was actually in the game. How it works is that the phone projects an image of yourself to a certain location and it's supposed to look like that you're actually there, where actually you're somewhere too far that you can't reach the location in time. It's supposed to be for the luxury of talking to the person as if you're face to face instead of being on the phone, because the feel of face to face brings more life to the chat and it actually makes you look like you care for that person. In my case however, I have to make myself look like I'm part of the audience.

Great, just great. Today was the day I was supposed to fix everything with my kids. I've been so caught up with my inventions that I mispent my time til I had none left for them. Honey understands, she always understands... but the kids don't. I wouldn't blame them, but I fear the day that they would call me a terrible father. Someday they would understand that what I do, is ultimately for them... but now they need me, so I have to be there... speaking of the kids, where are-?

"Did you see that Ferrari parked over there? It looked soooo cool!"

Ah, Jasmine and her everlasting love for cars. I could also hear Marie chuckling.

"What did it look like?" Asked Marie.

"Wh-what did it-?!" Jasmine laughed. "It looked like a Ferrari obviously! You know, yellow with a black stripe in the middle, 2-seated, and an engine powerful enough to reach the velocity of 375 kilometers per hour by average? Well actually it depends on the model of the Ferrari, but still it's fast like vrrrooommm!"

Their voices came from my right, where the exit from the bleachers was. Ahh, my little mini us-es (as in Me and Isabella). I wish badly that I could see them in person, instead of from the car, but I wonder if the hologram was good enough to make the kids think that I'm actually here. They came up the steps to the lowest platform, which is 3 steps below from where "we" seated.

"Wow... where did you get that information?" Asked PJ

"Internet. Duh. But when I grow up, I'm gonna beat that velocity once I design my own car, then I'm gonna make it the standard vehicle of all racing! I'm going to be the future of cars people and nothing's gonna stop me!"

I smiled, overhearing the end of their conversation, as they climbed the steps with some popcorn and drinks.

Suddenly, someone tapped the glass by my window. Well, it's a police officer alright. I lowered my window in response.

"Good afternoon sir!" I greeted the officer.

"Oh! Mr. Flynn! It's you!"

"Why, yes! Yes it is!"

"How are we doing today sir?" He asked.

Wait, is he going to let me through? "I'm pretty good, how about you?"

"Yeah, same here as well! Uhh, I hope you don't mind."

He scribbles something in his notepad and then shows me a list of what looks like sections of an article, probably a police article.

"You're in violation of item four and six, which was overspeeding and beating the red light. Forgive me, but I'm gonna have to reorient you with the traffic rules, since this is your first warning."

I smiled politely. "Well, by all means, let's get this over with. I am very late for a game of my son though, but I understand, I have to let you do your job."

The security officer, Bill, according to his nametag, stood there stunned. Geez, is he okay? Did I say something? Was I rude... Or what I said made another violation in the traffic rules? Wait, that's not right, I'm sure I was being very polite that time! Hold on, is he crying?!

"Sir?! Are you okay?"

Well my voice called his attention, and he quickly scribbled something in his notepad and sniffed in a cold. I got the ticket, $5 it said. Wait is he serious?! He just gave me a 50% discount!

"Just, pay me the penalty and go." He said in the matter of a crying lady after watching a tragic romance movie.

Woah! I can't say no to that! I immediately reached for my wallet and then paid him the fine.

"Thank-!"

"Just! Go!"

After he cleared himself off the path for me, I immediately sped off. I then programmed the car to auto-pilot mode after selecting my destination in the GPS. Okay, it should be able to drive itself by now, but I'm not quite sure. It took a while for me to notice the independent movement of the steering wheel, and once it became more prominent, I slowly let it go while cautiously checking for any errors or malfunctions that would randomly occur. I can't be seen on the bleachers driving, else the trick would never work and Anthony would be disappointed.

Before the kids were a few steps from us, I quickly set my hands on my lap and sat down. Just in the nick of time, I saw Anthony waving with both hands at the both of us, then quickly resumed position in the team to avoid being noticed by the referee and coaches. Of course we waved back, like the proud parents we were, but I looked at Isabella with a cheeky grin and she smiled too, but I did notice a sense of anxiety in her face.

She practically said "What if this doesn't work?" without even vocalizing it. I'm pretty anxious too, but I didn't let that fear conquer me, and I kept my grin up.

"D-dad?!"

I looked to my right, and noticed PJ holding two buckets of popcorn between the two girls. Little Jasmine was below me legs looking at me with that cute innocent smile of hers. I really want to hug her, she's so irresistible right now, but I can't.

"Hey guys!" I waved.

Immediately Jasmine tried to grab my leg, but it caused my holographic image to flicker, much to her disappointment. I grinned, not out of joy but out of the guilt of being caught absent... yet again. Marie and PJ on the other hand just looked at me blankly, like it was typical of me to do such a thing.

"Look, I really tried. I really wanted to be here, so I came up with a backup plan instead, see? The champ won't notice a thing."

"I hope." Said PJ, a bit skeptic about the plan.

"Well, at least you're trying daddy." Said Marie sweetly.

Just in time, the game whistle blew to a start, and the ball was on the Danville Emu's side. Anthony was striker positioned somewhere in the front of the team, waiting for someone to pass the ball to him then take the shot. As soon as his teammate were running towards the goal, he made a run for their goal, and everyone in the bleachers on our side were cheering. Marie, PJ and Jasmine were so excited that they stood up, scattering some popcorn in the process. Honey just waved her hands in excitement and jumped up and down, while I was yelling words like "Come on champ you can do it! Run run!" I wanted to stand up so bad, but I couldn't since the car ceiling wasn't high enough (maybe I should install that whenever this situation happens again, but I have a feeling it would be impractical and dangerous). Eventually the ball was passed to my son, but someone from their defense intercepted it and it was the opposing team's ball. He snapped his fingers in front of him in frustration, he can get pretty hot-headed and competitive especially in the sport that he loves, but being in a competition always gets him confident and challenged. As he ran, he noticed him steal a very quick glance at us, and chased after the person with the ball, while maintaining his position. He tried doing some tricks such as dancing around the player and making some tricks to steal the ball back, but the player was good enough to avoid falling from them. Once the ball was out of his zone, Tony gave up the chase and watched his teammates attempt to defend. Unfortunately, the efforts of the opposing team were good enough to score a goal. Current standing was 0-1.

Honestly, I didn't really care if the other team was on the lead, I was just happy to see my son actually playing with passion, the game that even I used to enjoy when I was a kid. But it kinda breaks my heart too that I'm lying to him, that I'm deceiving him. But that's not important, what matters is that I'm there to support him. During the earlier years, before my work became very busy, and when Tony just graduated from Preschool and entering first grade, I watched him play with the soccer ball that Ferb gave him a few months before at Christmas. It was one of the happiest days of my life, me and my son just having a bonding moment with a game that I loved... and then something amazing happened! He was juggling the ball, I'm not even sure when he learned that or even practiced it (probably when I was away), but he kept it in the air several times before it hit his head and he fell down crying. After that day, I dedicated my free time to developing his talent further, giving him a book for soccer techniques and tactics for the game, gave him a few practice sessions (even if it was seldom), and gave him words of encouragement before going to work. It's really hard, but he wishes that I could do better, and I do wish that for myself too. But he knows how much effort and time I put for him, and this is pretty much enough, but all he wants me to do is watch him play, see how much he has learned, see how all his time and effort of developing his skills be put into play in every game, make me a proud father. All those memories flushed in as we locked our eyes on each other, while a few seconds was spent on the players to got in position for the next attack. I nodded, and he nodded back with a grin, he's ready for some action.

"Come on Baloney you can do it!" Yelled Marie.

"Beat em to a pulp big brother!" Yelled Jasmine.

The referee blew his whistle and the Emus are attacking once again. Tony's teammates do a good job at dodging some of the other players that tried to steal the ball from them, and eventually the ball was passed to my son. Now here comes the same defense player who intercepted him earlier. No, it ain't gonna happen again, I just know. Tony kicked the ball between his legs and danced around him quick enough to recover the ball.

"Yes!" I yelled out loud, but I was so excited that I hit my head on the ceiling of my car. Isabella thought it was so funny that she giggled. She's cute when he giggles, but it would've been cuter if I could pinch her nose the way she plays with mine. I managed to give the kids something to laugh about too. Gee, I can't believe this plan is working so well for everyone, I even completely forgot that the kids were disappointed in the first place!

But then the defence becomes tighter as he approaches, a big mistake for the enemy team! Tony makes a cross pass to his teammate and he makes it through the defence. I see the opposing goalkeeper is pretty nervous, and he runs to intercept the ball instead of defending the goal. That teammate then makes a cross pass back to Tony, giving him the opportunity score the wide open goal.

My heart couldn't take all this excitement, and I bet I would've been sent straight to the Emergency Room for having a heart attack if I was 80 years old and above. The crowd was wild, and my family was going crazy standing on the bleachers screaming Tony's name 'til their voiceboxes broke. And then finally... Goal! Everyone on our side cheered, even me; I also hit my head the second time on the ceiling.

Tony was so happy that he ran around with his shirt over his face, and his other teammates knocked him down and piled over him. The opposing goalkeeper however was so frustrated that he kicked the same ball flying. The referee blows his whistle.

"Hey! Technical foul number three!" Called PJ pointing at the goalie.

"Wow... Where did you learn all that stuff? And I thought you hated soccer."

"Internet. Duh. And since dad became occupied I decided to give Mr. Baloney some trivia and explanations about some concepts and tactics about the game. Of course I had to learn the basics first."

"Impressive, my genius nerdy baby brother." Marie messes up his hair with pride.

"Look out!" A random person spoke.

I didn't notice it until it was too late, the ball was already in my face and it went through me. Then the image of the field rippled into nothing. The call was still on however.

"Hello? Hello? What happened?"

"Dang it! The projector broke... and Tony saw it."

No! That was my only chance as of now, I'm still pretty far from the stadium. If only I installed some booster engines for this car, but Honey protested that it would be dangerous for a family car.

"I'm gonna cut the call. See ya later."

I'm dead, I'm so dead. I buried my face within my arms in frustration. How am I going to explain all of this to him?

I can't overspeed now either, I'm gonna get caught again. I'm gonna have to wait until I arrive, but it would be faster if I drove. I deactivated the auto-pilot and took the wheel just to release some of the stress I'm having. Please, please Tony, don't let your spirit die just because I'm not there anymore.

It took thirty minutes more of driving, but I finally arrived in front of the soccer field. I programmed the car to automatically drive to a vacant parking spot and rushed to the bleachers. Oddly, on the way it was quiet... very eerily quiet. When I arrived, the stadium was practically deserted except for a couple there who was making out "privately."

"Hey! Did you watch the last game?" I asked, to both of them, hoping either would answer.

"Well, yeah dude, it was cut short." Said the teenage guy.

"What?! Why?!"

"Oh right, you were that dad who was the hologram thingy that went off right?" Said the teenage girl.

"Yes! Yes I am, now can you please fill me in!"

The guy groaned. "Chill, dude. The Danville Emus won by disqualification. Some not cool dude broke the leg of their striker by stepping over it."

No! No! Not Tony! Not my son!

"Some said it was an accident, but it didn't look like that to me. They get angrier everytime the Emus scored a goal. The kid with the pointy nose was brought by a stretcher to an ambulance."

Then I remembered, earlier while I was driving about five minutes ago, an ambulance rushed past me going towards the opposite direction.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Author's Note)**

I'm actually not confident about the grammar structure of this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3

I was thinking a lot of things, and my emotions got the better of me as I heard the news. I did nothing, I said nothing, and yet I was angry, I was horrified, I was panicked, I was confused... But one thing's for sure, I had to get to the hospital fast! But still, I couldn't believe it! How dare he injure someone for the sake of winning, how dare he ruin the true spirit of sports, and how dare he injure my son! What kind of salty, sore, spoiled brat does that?! Okay, that was a redundant rhetorical question but who cares?! I'm gonna found out who did this and make sure that he is penalized for threatening my son! I'm so... furious! No one hurts my family, no one! Not even threaten, not even! Not like that!

I was so infuriated that I didn't even bother to thank the teenagers who gave me the updates. I stomped off to the nearest road, leaving the two back to their make-out session (it's the nicest thing I could do at the moment). I fished my right pocket for my car remote and pushed its button. What, you're interested to know why there's such a thing as a car remote and how does it work? Well, the reason is easy: convenience. And it works by activating your beacon/tracking signal; the signal will be traced to your location by the car and then it will drive to the nearest road, and then wait there. It used to drive off the road and then directly to you however, but we fixed that silly and yet very life threatening prototype error (but it's possible to override it).

Almost immediately, my car arrived at the road I dropped myself off, probably because it didn't have time to park (yet there's this silly feeling that it somehow knew I was gonna call it back). I wanted to ride shotgun since it was the nearest side I could ride on, but I don't think the traffic rules recognize or have anything about self-driving cars, so I went around to the driver's seat just to be safe.

"Monty! Locate Isabella Garcia-Shapiro!"

"Unknown name acknowledged. Here are some close matches." Monty, the computer of the car, spoke.

Oh, right. That's not her last name anymore.

"Locate Isabella Flynn!"

"Mrs. Flynn is located at Danville General Hospital. Would you like to drive to her location?"

"Yes! Make it snappy!"

"Acknowledged. Increasing average driving speed without violation of any traffic protocols. Activating passenger safety measures, please keep your hands on the wheel."

We zipped off to the hospital so fast that my head was slammed to the seat. Automatically my seatbelt secured me (another feature added when manual is not practically possible to perform, or the driver simply forgot to put on his seatbelt). By how I explained this type of car, it kinda sounded like that it's the kind that is used for stunts, but no, that's not how it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be a family car with a bit more convenience. There are already cars that have GPS installed in them as well as Bluetooth to your smartphone so that you don't have to pick your phone when you are called and jeopardize your life by breaking the law; buttons on the driver's wheel are also included. We just added the voice command feature and the auto-pilot artificial intelligence. Speaking of which, I just received a call from Ferb. The call broadcasted from the screen in the middle of the car.

"Pick it up Monty!"

Ferb's profile image, the one where he had shades like that of Daft Punk, appeared on the screen of the car. He has an obsession for shades, lots of other kinds of shades.

"How was the game? Did the Emus win?" He asked.

"Yeah we won, but at the price of my son's leg getting run over."

I heard him gasp.

"What's worse? I got caught using the hologram call. And yes Ferb, I should've remembered, I should've put more reminders, and maybe I should've told you to remind me... wait, I did tell you to remind me!"

There was a long streak of silence in the line.

"Ferb. You forgot too, didn't you?"

And then again there was another long pause of silence. There are times when that silence of his is not appropriate.

"S-sorry." He said.

"Ugh. It's not like anything is going to help it anyway. I'm at the hospital now, call you later."

Danville General hospital was as white as any iconic medical building you could ever find in your city, and the usual windows and ambulance. It is, however, pretty small compared to most other hospitals. There's a basement parking in it, but I don't think tickets are given to empty cars, so I need to park it myself. I flipped a switch that deactivated the auto-pilot mode and I drove the car myself to the parking area (you could do it via voice command too if you choose to do so). Well, the ticket vendor recognized me and was pretty star struck by my sudden appearance, but I just said thank you kindly and drove off in a rush as soon as I got my ticket and the barrier was lifted. But I was already clear enough to set the auto-pilot back on once I dropped myself off to the stairs leading up, since no one would notice it parking itself.

I rushed to the nearest nurse station and inquired if Anthony Flynn was one of their patients.

"Oh! Yes, you're his father right?" She asked.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Okay, he's actually still in the emergency room, along with his pediatrician, your wife, and your other children. They just checked in a few minutes ago. The room is on the left."

"Thank you so much!"

I immediately ran left, past some nurses who were also frantic in dealing with some other patients who needed care, but there were also some who were nice and patient enough that they just let me through. But I am sorry though, I'm still in a state of panic.

Finally I arrived at the emergency room, then I was going to inquire with the nurse station there for my son, until I bumped into someone tiny.

"Ow!"

It was Jasmine, but this wasn't exactly how I planned to meet with her. She bumped her head on my leg so hard that she cried.

"Oh! Hey hey hey." I picked her up to hug her close. "Where does it hurt JJ?"

Jasmine sniffed. "Here." She pointed to her head.

Repeatedly, I pecked the part where she pointed at until she stopped crying, then I just held her, gave her a tender father-daughter moment. My two girls did always have their mother's cutonium powers. I noticed some adults spectating the little intrusion I had with my daughter; I've gotten some mixed faces, some happy, some annoyed, each with a different reason I suppose, but I didn't care, my daughter needed me. But then I felt something weird around my chest, something wet.

"Wh-what?!" I lifted her away just to see what was damping my shirt. Then I looked at Jasmine's bubbly face.

"JJ did you just pee on me?!"

Little Jasmine giggled. "I was running to the bathroom... and then I ran into you, and then it was too late."

What the heck?! She just used her father as a toilet! Ohhoho, she's in so much trouble alright. Waay too much trouble. She became suddenly anxious because of the strict face I was giving her, boy she was right to be scared. I carried her to the nearest chair I could find, and then attacked her stomach with my wiggly fingers. She went laughing and rolling on my lap in seconds, which then spread the dampness all over me a bit... I guess tickling her wasn't such a good idea.

"You like that huh? Huh? Then take that, and that, and here and there and-!"

"I got your nose!" Indeed she did take hold of my nose, after several failed attempts earlier at stopping my tickles.

"Ow!" She pinched my nose. With all my kids pinching my nose when they were smaller, I'm beginning to worry if my nose is so squished that it feels like pinching a pillow instead of cartilage.

"Okay, pinch it more and I will tickle you harder."

Thankfully she obeyed, but she was giving me that stupid smile, the way Isabella does it when she activates her cutonium powers, you know, with her titled head and her pearly eyes, and that cute grin as a finishing touch. But I got so used to this cutonium power than you can practically say I'm immune, and I am not looking forward to being a father that falls for that trick... again. I still was not satisfied with my revenge, but still, I couldn't help but adore that smile of hers, so I hugged her... and made sure that her head was on my chest... a perfect finish for my vengeance.

"Ew! Ew! No no no! Dad let go ew, I'm gonna stink!"

"Oh, now you're worried about being stinky?" I asked as I let her go.

She pushed me away and then ran back to the direction she came from, laughing. Assuming that Isabella was there, I followed her, and I saw her crawl under a curtain. I didn't want to barge in so I stepped just outside of the area and waited for someone to come out of the curtain.

"Mommy. Daddy is outside." I heard JJ say.

Isabella, with cute curiosity, peeked out of the curtain. "Honey!"

"Honey bunny!" My arms were wide open and she embraced me to a hug. Right into my trap.

"Ew, why is your chest wet and..." She sniffed that damp part. "Eeeewwww! Why does it smell like..."

She then looked at the three kids who were peeking out of the curtain of the patient's cubicle, but more focused on JJ.

"Jasmine, show yourself."

Guilty as if she just took candy from a baby and got caught. But still, the brave little girl stepped out and revealed her damp underwear under her pink skirt.

Isabella gasped. "Jasmine Flynn! Your father is not a potty! Well, it's a good thing a brought extra clothes then young lady."

I chuckled to lighten the mood. "She got me good there though."

"Oh. You want me to ask her to do it again?"

Most certainly not woman, but I hid that message by smiling.

"Where's Tony?" I asked with a little more concern.

She nudged her head towards the direction where his bed was, behind the curtain of the cubicle. I left Isabella to do her job as a mother by scolding Jasmine a bit and changing her clothes (she's not a total killer when she scolds though, she still has that tender heart for children, I mean, I could hear her giggling while reprimanding her).

There, on the hospital bed with his leg elevated and wrapped with an orthopedic cast, my son laid there looking at the medal on his chest blankly. Although it wasn't exactly the kind of winning that I wanted my son to achieve, it was still a victory, and his injury was not his fault.

"Hey champ." I gently said.

Anthony looked up from his medal and I saw a bit of delight at least on his face.

"Hey dad." He said with a bit of a sad undertone.

Although Marie was my first born, I was really proud to have a son call me that. You may say that I have some sort of gender favoritism, but what man wouldn't want a son that could relate to him? Best of all, me and Isabella got our fair share, two guys and gals for each of us!

While I was thinking, someone entered the cubicle with the footsteps of high heels.

"Hey Tony! How you doin?"

I recognize that voice somewhere, wait it can't be-!

"Hey Dr. Gretchen." Anthony greeted her back.

"Gretch?"

I turned around to see if what heard was real, and true enough it was her, the same brunette with those glasses on her. She was surprised too, she fixed her glasses to check if they were right.

"Phineas! I was worried that I'd only get a chance to see his clones rather the genuine original."

"Clones?" I said with a chuckle.

"Oh, did you want offspring?"

"Even until now your terminologies are still creative."

"And I still ship the both of you. I squealed the moment I received news about that special night you two were planning and I heard you had lots of fun."

"Oooh! What was that special night dad?" Asked Tony.

"Gretch! Not here." I swore my face was burning up with embarrassment.

She chuckled. "Aw come on, don't deny it. That night was unforgettable."

I ain't sayin anymore details, but yeah, it was indeed a fun night for me and my wife.

"I always call and text her. Me and chief, yes I still dub her as that, may be out of reach, but we're never out of touch. I still remember the moments I had to console her when you two had those stressful moments back in college."

Ah, yeah I rememeber those days too, it was one of our toughest times. I'll tell you, keeping a relationship stable and at the same time your grades up was not a walk in the park. Somewhere during our couple of final years in our courses, we made plans to do some stuff we wanted, just for the both of us; of course as we age and accelerate towards our course end, our relationship evolved too, and so did our stress levels. We wanted to do something just to keep homework and projects off of our backs, so we planned to go to the beach one day. Then she called me, she was crying, she said she could not make it, said that she still had a lot of work to do, and I was already packed. We even planned for that day, I even made specific instructions for her to follow if we were to make this day happen, we were so careful and precise with our progress, and yet it didn't turn out to be so. Of course I was upset, I hate it when plans go wrong, I've never had this much failure in a plan ever since our trip around the world within a day. We argued, and it got worse when she started raising her voice... next thing I knew she cut the line.

As soon as she was ready, we talked, we apologized to each other, and we made each other understand that what we were doing was ultimately for both of us, individually and together. She told me she had a little help, but she never mentioned who, and I didn't give in to the urge of asking no matter how strong it was (I was under hint reception training under her because me being oblivious is not healthy for our relationship, I did have a feeling that it was one of her Fireside girls though).

"Anyway, I have to check on my patient, which happens to be your... offspring. By the way your shirt is wet."

"You can use the word "son," you know, you don't have to treat him like he was a different species. And yes, I know my shirt is wet." I said jokingly.

"Dad, can you speak english? I can't understand what you guys are saying. And, oh yeah, your shirt _IS_ wet."

We both approached the opposite sides of the bed, I on Anthony's left, while she on his right. She was scribbling down something on her clipboard with a pen, probably some sort of prescription or data chart.

"We checked the X-ray, and fortunately it's just a minor fracture. You'll be walking for at least a week, but you won't be back in the field for at least another, you'll need to wait for your bones to develop into stronger ones, so try not to run."

"Thanks doc." Said Anthony. "I'm gonna be more careful."

"And, your treat." Gretchen hands Anthony a lollipop, which he accepts with a bit of an embarrassed chuckle.

"Hey, you may not be a toddler anymore, but you're still a kid. So c'mon, enjoy it! You deserve it after all."

With that message from Gretchen, Anthony delightfully takes of the candy wrapper and puts the lollipop on his mouth.

"You'll be discharged by tonight. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to. It's a pleasure to see you again Phineas!"

"The pleasure is all mine." I replied.

Gretchen then walked off while scribbling some more notes on her clipboard. And finally it was just the two of us, me and my son Anthony!

"How's the leg?"

"Oh, you know, broken."

"Gee, could be any more obvious? I mean, how does it feel?"

He did some sort of breathing through his teeth, like how you do it when you make a mistake or when you're in pain. Of course I got the hint, I'm not that oblivious... anymore. It's best if I leave that subject there. Then he began sniffing the air.

"Ew, dad, why do you smell like piss?"

...Where did he learn that vocabulary? I was really shocked, he's become a bit vulgar. But then again, kids these days say anything, so I guess it's inevitable. He covered his mouth, knowing that he was in trouble the moment he said it, but I didn't shoot him a strict look this time.

"Just don't say those kinds of words when your mom is here okay?"

Yeah, he was surprised by that reply. I winked at him to make sure that it was only our secret, and he winked back.

Hey, I can be loose too you know. It's my responsibility to teach my kids the right thing, but I have to be practical here. Even if I teach them as best as I could, sometimes things that you don't want to happen still occur, and sometimes you have to leave it to them to really know what's right. But I've had my fair share of maturity, and I do admit there came times when I accidentally used those kinds of words. So yeah, this matter isn't very serious.

"Your sister used me as her toilet while I was carrying her."

Anthony covered his mouth in delightful surprise. Then we let out a few chuckles.

"Hey, congratulations on your victory! I saw that awesome shot you made before... you know, my hologram got cut off."

Anthony smiled for a while, but then took back the sad emotion he had earlier when he greeted me. He stopped sucking his lollipop and instead stared at it blankly.

"Dad... why did you lie to me?"

Man, I didn't think I'd be hearing that question from my son, I was really hoping he would understand. I mean, I needed to be with my company, else if I didn't do anything we'd have a slim progress towards our next project. Things have been really busy lately, and I'm doing my best to fit some important family time in my schedule, but lately not a lot has been working.

"Hey, I... I was able to watch the game wasn't I?"

Yeah, by the look of that sad blank face he's not buying my explanation.

"I had... work to do... so I was late... again."

He then held up his medal to his face.

"Well, at least your hologram was enough for me to gather enough strength to take the shot. Thanks dad."

I swear my heart melted when he said that. At least I've done some improvement from my previous failures. And yet, he's still sad, what we talked about hasn't cheered him up yet.

"Hey champ, what's wrong?"

He kept staring at his lollipop and then put it down with a sigh. I guess what he was trying to do was mustering up enough courage to tell me something deep.

"I think, I understand now." He said.

Well, that wasn't what I expected considering his age, I thought he'd complain about why I was late, and I was always late, like the other kids usually do to me whenever I miss something.

"Well, go on then. I can take it." I said with a smile.

"You... you're too busy."

What?! N-no, that's ...it's not like that. But I can't assume quickly, I'll have to wait until he finishes.

"I get it, you can't go to any of our school events, or my soccer games... because you're working... for us... and for Danville."

"Did... did you talk to mom about this?"

"Well, mom... and the rest of us. She thinks you're a hero dad, for doing all of that, to keep us fed, safe, and also Danville progressing. It's... actually honorable, and it kinda makes me proud that my dad is doing that for us."

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought.

"Yeah... but I still try to make time for you, for all of you. I try a lot Tony, I really do. I really wanted to be at the soccer game earlier today. I even planned, I even set reminders!"

"Yeah... thanks dad but... let's face it. You can't. You just can't."

No... that's not true. I can, I really can... I'm just not doing enough. I don't know what's making me like this, and I don't know what I should do to make it better, so that we may bond better, like we used to, like we sometimes do... I would love to make the bonds more often. But... I didn't know what to say, I was so shocked at hearing that someone has lost trust in me, probably almost completely. I felt something hollow on my chest, like something was taken from there.

"L-look, I promise, I'll be there next time. Really, next time."

"Dad... you already broke that promise earlier. Didn't you tell me that I shouldn't be keeping promises that I can't keep?"

...He's right. I just, gave up then and there.

"I-I'm sorry."

He managed to smile, but out of sympathy. "It's okay, I still love you dad."

Well, I began to let a tear out of my left eye. "I love you too."

He smiled, he just smiled. Then he resumed consuming his lollipop treat. There was nothing else to talk about, he doesn't trust me anymore. But worst of all, he was right. Not entirely, but still, he was right.

"Are you tired?" I asked.

"...Yeah. I think I'm gonna take a nap."

"...Okay. Sleep tight. I'll wake you when we're discharged already."

"...Okay."

I just left him for his privacy, and went out of the cubicle. I was pretty much destroyed by that conversation that I couldn't help but cry a bit when I was out. I looked to my left, and they all saw me crying.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Asked Marie.

I looked at Isabella, and she I saw her look of sadness too. She always understood me.

"Do... do I always miss something important? You know, because I'm at work?"

The three of them: Marie, PJ and Jasmine, looked at each other. Thankfully JJ had changed her clothing.

"Well, you missed my science fair last month. We were supposed to present my project together... and then it blew up. You were... supposed to help me double check, if I got anything right this time." Said Marie.

"You also missed my Spelling Bee, and Quiz Bee that same month. I know how much you are bad at spelling, but I just wanted to make you proud." Said PJ

"And we were supposed to watch a Soap Derby this summer, for me, and a baseball game of the Danville Sewer Alligators, because you like baseball, but none of those plans worked out either." Said Jasmine.

I just couldn't take it all in at once. My tears started to well up some more.

"But it's okay, we get it daddy. You're busy. It doesn't change anything, really." Marie said kindly.

I don't think so Marie, you might think you do understand, but you really don't.

"I-I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

I just walked, I left all of them there, I didn't look back, I can't let them see me like this. So my life has come to this. Phineas Flynn, inventor extraordinaire, and a father, who can't even come to his kids when they need him the most. Somebody give this guy a round of applause... for my dramatic scene is about to come up in the bathroom... I'm gonna end this chapter right here. Just... don't bother me for now.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was night time, a perfect time to tuck your kids in at bed and kiss them goodnight. I did so, of course, but it wasn't the same as how it used to be; the thought of hearing them call you dad used to be bliss, constantly reminding you how much they need you, and how much they love you. But earlier, I felt shame, and I felt that there was this atmosphere that I was unwelcome. They seemed happy and warm as they usually were when I tucked them to bed (with careful handling with Tony's case), but after hearing those words earlier at the hospital, I began to think that they were just pretending so as not to hurt me, or stress me out. I thought that if they grew up, they would understand fully what I was going through, and what sacrifices I had to make just to give them this kind of life they are living right now. They have the most advanced technology, even more advanced that what the public and the world has now I believe, and they can play with some of the coolest toys no one has ever made, virtual, computer, and physical ones. They even have a house that protects them from all sorts of crimes and disasters: man-made and natural... okay, maybe the shield generator by the garage was too much, but knowing that there are also outer space potential threats such as meteors crashing and alien invasions... yeah, I'm a little worried that I might be too much, but you gotta do what you gotta do to protect the ones you love (don't worry, I haven't activated it, I'm saving it for other urgent events). Gee, I even wonder if even until now they're awake and talking to each other as quietly and as carefully as possible so as not to stir us parents (Tony and PJ stay in one room, while JJ and Marie stay in theirs).

I was too deep in thought to recognize the moonlight on my face, and I was also trying to sleep just to get rid of this feeling that lasted since this afternoon, but this feeling was so sad that I just couldn't relax and succumb. Here I was, lying down on the right side of the bed, closest to the window overlooking the city. Danville sure looks beautiful at night too, it always has I'm sure, the view from my original house just wasn't as good. Danville seems so much better now: flying cars, weird yet innovative houses, warp transportation systems, eco-friendly virtual fireworks, and many more techs to describe; they make me feel lonely. What's am I? An invetor? Yeah sure, but a father? Huh, it almost makes me laugh at myself.

Isabella entered the dark room, I noticed since the light coming from the hallway peeked in. I wonder, maybe she was talking to the kids again about me, probably trying to help me out or something. It's futile, I'm not the same father in their eyes anymore.

She snuggles herself beneath the covers of this bed, then scoots over to my side. Her cheek felt warm as she pressed gently pressed it against mine, sandwiching me between this soft pillow and her.

"Hi." Her angelic voice echoes on my left ear canal.

"Hey."

Well, I have to admit, I'm actually pretty glad that she's trying to squish me. I needed a little squish in fact.

"You okay?"

Okay, now she's done it. All these bottled up emotions inside me just exploded; I was starting to damp my pillow.

"Aww baby..."

Suddenly the squishiness was gone, but I wasn't gonna let her get away. I grabbed her head and kept it stuck on mine.

"Don't! I... I wanna be squished."

I felt the sensation of her right cheek stretching to my face.

"Do you want your squish to come with a snuggle?"

"Pleeeeaaassee."

"Aww, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here."

I sounded like a kindergarten who just injured his knee, or who got his candy stolen from his parents. I guess how much I let out earlier at the hospital wasn't enough to completely deplete it. The best part of honey was that she always understood me, even if it were tough times, even if we fought, we always understood each other, and we always tried our best to make each moment count. Finally, after a few more sobs, I calmed down.

"So, what did ya do today?" She asked in the same tone as how she asks her catchphrase.

"Oh, you know, we were inventing and building... and you know, what we usually did when we were kids."

Isabella chuckled. "Well, what exactly did you invent today?"

"Nothing finished yet, unlike before, but we began construction on the foundation of a new portal. We decided to use the Portal to Mars idea, and this time we were tweaking a few adjustments to make sure that it not only grants access to one planet, but also to multiple. It's probably huge, and we might end up building several portals for each individual planet, but at least it's work."

"Sounds fun! But, weren't you supposed to partner up with TnT today so that you would speed up construction?"

Oh boy. Here comes the bad news part. "Well, they turned us down."

"What?!"

"TnT actually stands for Thaddeus and Thor. Apparently they still have a feud against us for outbuilding their project back when we were kids."

Isabella sighed, well who wouldn't like some bad news?

"Well, we decided that we'd partner up with Stark industries instead. The guys were kinda surprised and anxious about the idea, but I told them that we were good enough inventors to partner up with a huge company, not to mention that me and Ferb being Starks' trusty star apprentices make quite a huge advantage. Otherwise, I might as well concede to the fact that I'll just be a working robot that doesn't even have time for his kids."

I stopped talking for a bit, waiting for her to take all the load of problems that I had to face. The moment we got married, we both knew that each of our problems were both our problems, and we were ready to face them no matter what. It wasn't the perfect future Isabella had in mind with me, but she was sure ready as... well, she was so ready that it was like she wanted to take that roller coaster ride all over again (I didn't want to be vulgar, but you know what I mean).

I felt that we were both watching the new Danville, how it transformed from a simple city that practically begged tourists to come to their city into a city of progress. I do miss how simple it was back then however, how we rode our bikes, skateboards, and rollerblades to the city instead of hoverboards and literally flying shoes. Of course there are warp networks, but it's not exactly healthy to take those, nor are they safe, plus only working people can take those. Also, I encouraged my kids to be more active outside rather than sit around and look at their tablets all day, I always taught them to make the most out of everything they had, and deny the satisfaction of an ordinary day.

"...Gee, things really have changed haven't they?"

I smiled, half-heartedly. "Not everything."

"Yeah, I know you're still that oblivious red head I always loved."

"Hey, I poured a lot of effort graduating in that little romance course of yours back in college."

Isabella giggled. Ahh, the memories of being taught about romance in Isabella's perspective. It gave me an understanding now of why I was so ignorant of all those hints she dropped at me. Sure, I'm glad that now I'm a little less (if not completely) oblivious about that subject, but I'm a little sad that the learning part was already over.

Okay, this might get a little crazy, so prepare yourself. Imagine being lectured about kissing, its theories, its examples, and all the other stuff that a college professor would say about a certain topic. Then, she'd ask you to demonstrate everything that you learned on that session. My favorite parts are when I'd stupidly do it wrong, she'd laugh hysterically while leaning on the whiteboard of my college dorm room I was sharing with some guy.

She'd say things like "That was good, but add a little more passion into that, like how you'd finally kiss that princess you always wanted." or something like, "tilt your head, a little more, feel that... electrifying sensation... mmmmm..."

Yeah, it was a lot of fun learning romance with my best friend here, no matter how dumb it got.

"What I meant was, compared to how things went during our childhood summers, things really leveled up for us." She said.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not as easy as it used to be, heck I used to build a giant bowling ball in our sleep."

"To top it off, we have kids now, our free time is usually eaten up by these rascals you and I raised."

Okay, I couldn't help but think that was a good one. "Rascals that pretty much define our lives now. They're... everything."

She tilts her head closer to mine, so that the sides of the top of our heads touched.

"I just wish... I just really miss our summer together. You, me, Buford, Ferb, Baljeet, The Fireside girls, everyone! I missed having a lot of simple fun, just playing the day like there's no tomorrow. Everyday was a dream, a dream I'm sure other kids of our generation wished they had more." She said.

I smiled, remembering all our golden days, all the happiness and fun they brought. But they're all in the past now, we can't just simply go back. Seriously, we can't just take a time machine and go back, we'd be messing up everything we worked for this very moment.

"Now, everyone's really busy, even some of them have some my girls have some kids of their own. If you could just turn back the clock, and then freeze, you know, if we could just be kids again."

Yeah, that would be nice. Really nice... wait, What?!

"Honey, can you say that again?" I asked.

"I said, If we could just be kids again. You know, relive those days when everything was just so innocent and young and free. I wish we could have what our kids are having now, I wish I could celebrate that kind of fun with them, you know?"

...I think I just hit a brainwave. Isabella sure knows how to make me think of some of the craziest ideas. It's perfect! It's the ultimate solution to everything I've been so problematic about! It's... gee, I wish Isabella could think what I'm thinking, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

"Isabella?"

"Hmm?" She said, half asleep. She probably started dreaming about what she was talking about.

"I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow." I whispered.

"Hmm hmm."

She's probably asleep by now, the way she responded was not even with consciousness. But that talk we had was perfect, enough to get me building tomorrow again. And this time, it doesn't have to be at the cost of me and family time. Now, if I could only build as fast as before, no wait, stop thinking about your age, you can do this!

Now first, I'm gonna need some materials, like what exactly? What is it going to look like? What is it... going to be... made of... Will I ask... Ferb to help me... Roller coasters... Gitchee Gitchee... Chapter 4

It was night time, a perfect time to tuck your kids in at bed and kiss them goodnight. I did so, of course, but it wasn't the same as how it used to be; the thought of hearing them call you dad used to be bliss, constantly reminding you how much they need you, and how much they love you. But earlier, I felt shame, and I felt that there was this atmosphere that I was unwelcome. They seemed happy and warm as they usually were when I tucked them to bed (with careful handling with Tony's case), but after hearing those words earlier at the hospital, I began to think that they were just pretending so as not to hurt me, or stress me out. I thought that if they grew up, they would understand fully what I was going through, and what sacrifices I had to make just to give them this kind of life they are living right now. They have the most advanced technology, even more advanced that what the public and the world has now I believe, and they can play with some of the coolest toys no one has ever made, virtual, computer, and physical ones. They even have a house that protects them from all sorts of crimes and disasters: man-made and natural... okay, maybe the shield generator by the garage was too much, but knowing that there are also outer space potential threats such as meteors crashing and alien invasions... yeah, I'm a little worried that I might be too much, but you gotta do what you gotta do to protect the ones you love (don't worry, I haven't activated it, I'm saving it for other urgent events). Gee, I even wonder if even until now they're awake and talking to each other as quietly and as carefully as possible so as not to stir us parents (Tony and PJ stay in one room, while JJ and Marie stay in theirs).

I was too deep in thought to recognize the moonlight on my face, and I was also trying to sleep just to get rid of this feeling that lasted since this afternoon, but this feeling was so sad that I just couldn't relax and succumb. Here I was, lying down on the right side of the bed, closest to the window overlooking the city. Danville sure looks beautiful at night too, it always has I'm sure, the view from my original house just wasn't as good. Danville seems so much better now: flying cars, weird yet innovative houses, warp transportation systems, eco-friendly virtual fireworks, and many more techs to describe; they make me feel lonely. What's am I? An invetor? Yeah sure, but a father? Huh, it almost makes me laugh at myself.

Isabella entered the dark room, I noticed since the light coming from the hallway peeked in. I wonder, maybe she was talking to the kids again about me, probably trying to help me out or something. It's futile, I'm not the same father in their eyes anymore.

She snuggles herself beneath the covers of this bed, then scoots over to my side. Her cheek felt warm as she pressed gently pressed it against mine, sandwiching me between this soft pillow and her.

"Hi." Her angelic voice echoes on my left ear canal.

"Hey."

Well, I have to admit, I'm actually pretty glad that she's trying to squish me. I needed a little squish in fact.

"You okay?"

Okay, now she's done it. All these bottled up emotions inside me just exploded; I was starting to damp my pillow.

"Aww baby..."

Suddenly the squishiness was gone, but I wasn't gonna let her get away. I grabbed her head and kept it stuck on mine.

"Don't! I... I wanna be squished."

I felt the sensation of her right cheek stretching to my face.

"Do you want your squish to come with a snuggle?"

"Pleeeeaaassee."

"Aww, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here."

I sounded like a kindergarten who just injured his knee, or who got his candy stolen from his parents. I guess how much I let out earlier at the hospital wasn't enough to completely deplete it. The best part of honey was that she always understood me, even if it were tough times, even if we fought, we always understood each other, and we always tried our best to make each moment count. Finally, after a few more sobs, I calmed down.

"So, what did ya do today?" She asked in the same tone as how she asks her catchphrase.

"Oh, you know, we were inventing and building... and you know, what we usually did when we were kids."

Isabella chuckled. "Well, what exactly did you invent today?"

"Nothing finished yet, unlike before, but we began construction on the foundation of a new portal. We decided to use the Portal to Mars idea, and this time we were tweaking a few adjustments to make sure that it not only grants access to one planet, but also to multiple. It's probably huge, and we might end up building several portals for each individual planet, but at least it's work."

"Sounds fun! But, weren't you supposed to partner up with TnT today so that you would speed up construction?"

Oh boy. Here comes the bad news part. "Well, they turned us down."

"What?!"

"TnT actually stands for Thaddeus and Thor. Apparently they still have a feud against us for outbuilding their project back when we were kids."

Isabella sighed, well who wouldn't like some bad news?

"Well, we decided that we'd partner up with Stark industries instead. The guys were kinda surprised and anxious about the idea, but I told them that we were good enough inventors to partner up with a huge company, not to mention that me and Ferb being Starks' trusty star apprentices make quite a huge advantage. Otherwise, I might as well concede to the fact that I'll just be a working robot that doesn't even have time for his kids."

I stopped talking for a bit, waiting for her to take all the load of problems that I had to face. The moment we got married, we both knew that each of our problems were both our problems, and we were ready to face them no matter what. It wasn't the perfect future Isabella had in mind with me, but she was sure ready as... well, she was so ready that it was like she wanted to take that roller coaster ride all over again (I didn't want to be vulgar, but you know what I mean).

I felt that we were both watching the new Danville, how it transformed from a simple city that practically begged tourists to come to their city into a city of progress. I do miss how simple it was back then however, how we rode our bikes, skateboards, and rollerblades to the city instead of hoverboards and literally flying shoes. Of course there are warp networks, but it's not exactly healthy to take those, nor are they safe, plus only working people can take those. Also, I encouraged my kids to be more active outside rather than sit around and look at their tablets all day, I always taught them to make the most out of everything they had, and deny the satisfaction of an ordinary day.

"...Gee, things really have changed haven't they?"

I smiled, half-heartedly. "Not everything."

"Yeah, I know you're still that oblivious red head I always loved."

"Hey, I poured a lot of effort graduating in that little romance course of yours back in college."

Isabella giggled. Ahh, the memories of being taught about romance in Isabella's perspective. It gave me an understanding now of why I was so ignorant of all those hints she dropped at me. Sure, I'm glad that now I'm a little less (if not completely) oblivious about that subject, but I'm a little sad that the learning part was already over.

Okay, this might get a little crazy, so prepare yourself. Imagine being lectured about kissing, its theories, its examples, and all the other stuff that a college professor would say about a certain topic. Then, she'd ask you to demonstrate everything that you learned on that session. My favorite parts are when I'd stupidly do it wrong, she'd laugh hysterically while leaning on the whiteboard of my college dorm room I was sharing with some guy.

She'd say things like "That was good, but add a little more passion into that, like how you'd finally kiss that princess you always wanted." or something like, "tilt your head, a little more, feel that... electrifying sensation... mmmmm..."

Yeah, it was a lot of fun learning romance with my best friend here, no matter how dumb it got.

"What I meant was, compared to how things went during our childhood summers, things really leveled up for us." She said.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not as easy as it used to be, heck I used to build a giant bowling ball in our sleep."

"To top it off, we have kids now, our free time is usually eaten up by these rascals you and I raised."

Okay, I couldn't help but think that was a good one. "Rascals that pretty much define our lives now. They're... everything."

She tilts her head closer to mine, so that the sides of the top of our heads touched.

"I just wish... I just really miss our summer together. You, me, Buford, Ferb, Baljeet, The Fireside girls, everyone! I missed having a lot of simple fun, just playing the day like there's no tomorrow. Everyday was a dream, a dream I'm sure other kids of our generation wished they had more." She said.

I smiled, remembering all our golden days, all the happiness and fun they brought. But they're all in the past now, we can't just simply go back. Seriously, we can't just take a time machine and go back, we'd be messing up everything we worked for this very moment.

"Now, everyone's really busy, even some of them have some my girls have some kids of their own. If you could just turn back the clock, and then freeze, you know, if we could just be kids again."

Yeah, that would be nice. Really nice... wait, What?!

"Honey, can you say that again?" I asked.

"I said, If we could just be kids again. You know, relive those days when everything was just so innocent and young and free. I wish we could have what our kids are having now, I wish I could celebrate that kind of fun with them, you know?"

...I think I just hit a brainwave. Isabella sure knows how to make me think of some of the craziest ideas. It's perfect! It's the ultimate solution to everything I've been so problematic about! It's... gee, I wish Isabella could think what I'm thinking, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

"Isabella?"

"Hmm?" She said, half asleep. She probably started dreaming about what she was talking about.

"I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow." I whispered.

"Hmm hmm."

She's probably asleep by now, the way she responded was not even with consciousness. But that talk we had was perfect, enough to get me building tomorrow again. And this time, it doesn't have to be at the cost of me and family time. Now, if I could only build as fast as before, no wait, stop thinking about your age, you can do this!

Now first, I'm gonna need some materials, like what exactly? What is it going to look like? What is it... going to be... made of... Will I ask... Ferb to help me... Roller coasters... Gitchee Gitchee...


End file.
